Navigating the Choice Between Private and Public Network

After the 2019 frequency auction, it took a while for the roll-out of 5G networks to get rolling. Reasonable coverage has now been achieved. So can public networks take over connectivity in companies?

According to Deutsche Telekom, its 5G network now covers over 95% of German households, while Vodafone claims coverage of 80% of households. Telefónica with its O2 brand claims that 82% of the population can now be reached with the new mobile communications standard. Only the fourth licence holder, 1&1, is still largely left out. The newcomer among the network operators currently only offers FWB (Fixed Wireless Broadband) at three antenna locations, but not yet mobile telephony.

Many companies should therefore be able to use at least one of the available public 5G mobile networks at their company headquarters. But does it make sense to run internal communication via an external network and save the expense of having your own private campus network? At first glance, it seems tempting. After all, 5G is a mobile communications technology with which hardly any traditional IT service providers in the corporate environment have any experience. They could save themselves the development, construction and operation of their own antenna infrastructure with the underlying 5G core and simply fulfill the network connection using routers and gateways.

No comparison of 4G/LTE with 5G

Some IT service providers point out that they have already used 4G/LTE connections in the past. But this comparison is misleading. As a rule, such cases involved a WAN connection of the company networks, possibly even only as a redundant fallback solution if the fibre optic connection fails. However, the advantages of 5G do not lie in the external connection, but in the internal networking.

Typical use cases in industry are wireless data transmission between sensors and controllers, between machines and edge servers or the communication of autonomous vehicles with their surroundings. The high bandwidth that 5G can provide is only rarely relevant for such use cases. Much more important are factors such as high reliability, low latency and high security. While public 5G networks can also score points for fast data transmission, there are question marks over the other points.

Who has control?

Anyone who shifts their communication to a public network does not have control over key influencing factors. Service level agreements (SLAs) can be used to agree on the quality of the network. However, this is only possible to a certain extent and with a limited level of detail. In addition, greater efforts must be made with regard to security if sensitive data, such as that from industrial production, is transported via a public network. Each individual node that communicates with the 5G network of a mobile network operator must also be secured against unauthorised access from outside.

The situation is different with a private 5G network. The company or its IT service provider can optimise its own campus network exactly to the required properties - and can also change this flexibly at any time if circumstances require it. Network slicing can even be used to operate different virtual networks with different characteristics side by side on the same hardware. This ensures, for example, that autonomous vehicles can be controlled with high reliability and the lowest possible latency without being disrupted by high-volume data transmission from cameras or masses of sensor messages. At the same time, all company data remains in the company's own hands and does not leak out. A closed network with defined transitions to the outside is also easier to secure against hacker attacks.

Industrial and mobile expertise

In practice, it has also been shown time and again that 5G providers have a high level of expertise in the mobile communications sector. However, there is still a lack of understanding of the needs of the various industrial sectors that have specific requirements for wireless communication. This also repeatedly leads to problems in hybrid projects in which carriers combine their public network with a private network.

Conversely, equipment suppliers such as Nokia or Celona have done a lot to reduce the complexity of a 5G campus installation and support their partners in this field. Partners like Xantaro, who bring deep mobile expertise from working with carriers and combine this with comprehensive domain knowledge, are therefore the better choice. They can set up a 5G campus network quickly and efficiently and also operate it if required. This allows companies to maximise the benefits of the latest technology.

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